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  <section id="glossary">
<h1>Glossary<a class="headerlink" href="#glossary" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p>This is a short glossary of important terms in Leo’s world. For more information about terms, look in the index for links to discussions in other places, especially in <a class="reference external" href="tutorial.html">Leo’s Tutorial</a> and <a class="reference external" href="directives.html">Leo’s Reference</a>.</p>
<div class="contents local topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title">Contents</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#id1" id="id2">&#64;</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#a-c" id="id3">A - C</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#d-g" id="id4">D - G</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#h-l" id="id5">H - L</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#m-o" id="id6">M - O</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#p-r" id="id7">P - R</a></p></li>
<li><p><a class="reference internal" href="#s-z" id="id8">S - Z</a></p></li>
</ul>
</div>
<section id="id1">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2">&#64;</a><a class="headerlink" href="#id1" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<dl class="simple" id="index-0">
<dt>&#64;</dt><dd><p>Starts a doc part. Doc parts continue until an &#64;c
directive or the end of the body text.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl class="simple" id="index-1">
<dt>&#64;&#64; convention for headlines</dt><dd><p>Within &#64;asis trees only, if a headline starts with &#64;&#64;, Leo
writes everything in the headline following the &#64;&#64; just before the
corresponding body text.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl class="simple" id="index-2">
<dt>&#64;&lt;file&gt; node</dt><dd><p>A node whose headline starts with &#64;asis, &#64;clean, &#64;edit, &#64;file, &#64;shadow, &#64;thin, or their longer forms. We often refer to outline nodes by the directives they contain. For example, an &#64;file node is a node whose headline starts with &#64;file, etc.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl class="simple" id="index-3">
<dt>&#64;all</dt><dd><p>Copies the body text of all nodes in an &#64;file tree to the external file.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl class="simple" id="index-4">
<dt>&#64;asis &lt;filename&gt;</dt><dd><p>Creates an external file containing no Leo sentinels directly from the &#64;asis tree.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p id="index-5">&#64;auto &lt;filename&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Imports an external file into the Leo outline, splitting the file into pieces if an importer exists for the give filetype. Importers presently exist for the following languages: C, C++, C#, HTML, INI files, Java, PHP, Pascal, Python and XML.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-6">&#64;c and &#64;code</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Ends a doc part and starts a code part.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-7">&#64;chapter</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>An &#64;chapter tree represents a chapter.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<span class="target" id="index-8"></span><p id="index-9">&#64;clean</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Creates an external file without sentinels. Section references and the &#64;all and &#64;others directives are valid in &#64;clean trees.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>&#64;color</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Enables syntax coloring in a node and its descendants until the next
&#64;nocolor directive.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-10">&#64;comment</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Sets the comment delimiters in &#64;thin, &#64;file and &#64;shadow files.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-11">&#64;delims</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Sets the comment delimiters in &#64;thin, &#64;file and &#64;shadow files.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-12">&#64;edit &lt;filename&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Reads an entire external file into a single node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-13">&#64;encoding &lt;encoding&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Specifies the Unicode encoding for an external file.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-14">&#64;file &lt;filename&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Creates an external file containing sentinels. When writing &#64;file trees, Leo expands section references and &#64;all and &#64;others directives. <strong>Important</strong>: &#64;file is the recommended way to create and edit most files. Using &#64;file trees is <strong>highly recommended</strong> when sharing external files in a collaborative environment.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-15">&#64;first &lt;text&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The &#64;first directive allows you to place one or more lines at the <em>very start</em> of an external file, before the first sentinel. The &#64;first directive must appear at the <em>very start</em> of body text. For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nd">@first</span> <span class="c1">#! /usr/bin/env python</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-16">&#64;killcolor</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Completely disables syntax coloring in a node, regardless of other directives.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-17">&#64;language &lt;language name&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Specifies the source language, which affects syntax coloring and the comments delimiters used in external files and syntax coloring.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-18">&#64;last &lt;text&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Allows you to place lines at the very end of external files, after the last sentinel. This directive must appear at the <em>very end</em> of body text. For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-default notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>@first &lt;?php
...
@last ?&gt;
</pre></div>
</div>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-19">&#64;lineending cr/lf/nl/crlf</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Sets the line endings for external files.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-20">&#64;nocolor</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Disables syntax coloring in a node and its descendants until the next &#64;color
directive.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-21">&#64;nocolor-node</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Completely disables coloring for one node. Descendant nodes are not affected.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-22">&#64;nosent</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Creates external files without sentinels. Unlike &#64;clean, &#64;nosent trees
are never updated from from external files.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-23">&#64;nowrap</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Disables line wrapping the Leo’s body pane.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-24">&#64;others</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Copies the body text of all nodes <em>except</em> section definition nodes in an
&#64;file tree to the corresponding external file.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-25">&#64;pagewidth &lt;n&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Sets the page width used by the reformat-paragraph command.
This directive also controls how &#64;doc parts are broken into lines.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>&#64;path &lt;path&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Sets the path prefix for relative filenames for descendant &#64;&lt;file&gt; directives.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-26">&#64;tabwidth &lt;n&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Sets the width of tabs. Negative tab widths cause Leo to convert tabs to
spaces.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-27">&#64;thin &lt;filename&gt;</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A synonym for &#64;file.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-28">&#64;wrap</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Enables line wrapping in Leo’s body pane.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
<section id="a-c">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3">A - C</a><a class="headerlink" href="#a-c" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p id="index-29">Body pane</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The pane containing the body text of the currently selected headline in the
outline pane.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-30">Body text</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The text in the body pane. That is, the contents of a node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-31">Body text box</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A small blue box in the icon box indicating that the node contains body
text.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-32">Child</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The direct descendant of a node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<dl class="simple" id="index-33">
<dt>Clone</dt><dd><p>A copy of a tree that changes whenever the original changes.
The original and all clones are treated equally:
no special status is given to the “original” node.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p id="index-34">Clone arrow</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A small red arrow in the icon box indicating that the node is a clone.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-35">Code part</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A part of a section definition that contains code. Code parts start with &#64;c
or &#64;code directives and continue until the next doc part.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-36">Contract:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>To hide all descendants of a node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
<section id="d-g">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4">D - G</a><a class="headerlink" href="#d-g" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<dl class="simple" id="index-37">
<dt>Demote</dt><dd><p>To move all siblings that follow a node so that they become children of the node.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl class="simple" id="index-38">
<dt>Descendant</dt><dd><p>An offspring of a node.  That is, a child, grandchild, etc. of a node.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p id="index-39">Directive</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A keyword, preceded by an ‘&#64;’ sign, in body text that controls Leo’s
operation. The keyword is empty for the &#64; directive.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-40">Dirty Node</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A node whose headline or body text has changed.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-41">Doc part</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A part of a section definition that contains comments. Doc parts start with
&#64; and continue until the &#64;c directive or the end of the body text.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>Escape convention</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A convention for representing sequences of characters that would otherwise
have special meaning. <strong>Important</strong>: Leo does not support escape conventions
used by <a class="reference external" href="https://www.cs.tufts.edu/~nr/noweb/">noweb</a>. Any line containing matched &lt;&lt; and &gt;&gt; is a section
reference, regardless of context. To use &lt;&lt; and &gt;&gt; as ordinary characters,
place them on separate lines.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-43">Expand</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>To make the children of a node visible.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-44">External file</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A file outside of Leo that is connected to Leo by an &#64;&lt;file&gt; node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>Gnx (Global Node Index)</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A unique, immutable string permanently associated with each vnode.
See <a class="reference external" href="appendices.html#format-of-external-files">format of external files</a>.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-46">Grandchild</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The child of a child of a node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
<section id="h-l">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5">H - L</a><a class="headerlink" href="#h-l" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p id="index-47">Headline</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The headline text of a node.  The part of the node visible in the outline pane.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-48">Hoist &amp; dehoist</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Hoisting a node redraws the screen that node and its descendants becomes the
only visible part of the outline. Leo prevents the you from moving nodes
outside the hoisted outline. Dehoisting a node restores the outline.
Multiple hoists may be in effect: each dehoist undoes the effect of the
immediately preceding hoist.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-49">Icon box</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>An icon just to the left of headline text of a node indicating whether the
node is cloned, marked or dirty, and indicating whether the node contains
body text.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-50">Log Pane</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The part of Leo’s main window that shows informational messages from Leo. It
also contains the Find tab, the Spell tab, the autocompletion tab.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
<section id="m-o">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6">M - O</a><a class="headerlink" href="#m-o" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p id="index-51">Mark</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A red vertical line in the icon box of a node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-52">Node</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The organizational unit of an outline. The combination of headline text and
body text. Sometimes used as a synonym for tree.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-53">Offspring</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A synonym for the descendants of a node.
The children, grandchildren, etc. of a node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-54">Organizer node</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A node containing no body text. Organizing nodes may appear anywhere in an
&#64;file tree; they do not affect the external file in any way. In particular,
organizing nodes do not affect indentation in external files.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-55">Orphan node</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A node that would not be copied to a external file. Orphan nodes can arise
because an &#64;file tree has no &#64;others or &#64;all directives. Sections that are
defined but not used also create orphan nodes.</p>
<p>Leo issues a warning when attempting to write an &#64;file tree containing
orphan nodes, and does not save the external file. No information is lost;
Leo saves the information in the &#64;file tree in the .leo file. Leo will load
the &#64;file tree from the .leo file the next time Leo opens the .leo file.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-56">Outline</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A node and its descendants. A tree. All the nodes of a .leo file.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-57">Outline order</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The order that nodes appear on the screen when all nodes are expanded.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-58">Outline pane</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The pane containing a visual representation of the entire outline, or a part
of the outline if the outline is hoisted.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
<section id="p-r">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7">P - R</a><a class="headerlink" href="#p-r" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p id="index-59">Parent</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The node that directly contains a node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-60">Plugin</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A way to modify and extend Leo without changing Leo’s core code.
See <a class="reference external" href="writingPlugins.html">Writing plugins and hooks</a>.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-61">Promote</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>To move all children of a node in an outline so that they become siblings of
the node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-62">Reference .leo file</p>
<p><cite>leoeditor/leo/core</cite> contains a <strong>reference .leo file</strong>: <strong>LeoPyRef.leo</strong>.
This file should change only when adding new external files to Leo.
Developers should use a local copy of LeoPyRef.leo (conventionally called
<strong>leoPy.leo</strong>) for their own work.</p>
<p>reStructuredText (rST)</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A simple, yet powerful markup language for creating .html, or LaTeX output
files. See the <a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/user/rst/quickstart.html">rST primer</a>.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-64">Root</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The first node of a .leo file, outline, suboutline or &#64;&lt;file&gt; tree.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
<section id="s-z">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8">S - Z</a><a class="headerlink" href="#s-z" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p id="index-65">Section</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A fragment of text that can be incorporated into external files.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-66">Section definition</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The body text of a section definition node.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-67">Section definition node</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A node whose headline starts with a section name and whose body text defines
a section.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-68">Section name</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A name enclosed in &lt;&lt; and &gt;&gt;. Section names may contain any characters
except newlines and “&gt;&gt;”.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-69">Section reference</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A section name appearing in a code part. When writing to an external file,
Leo replaces all references by their definitions.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-70">Sentinel</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Comment lines in external files used to represent Leo’s outline structure.
Such lines start with an &#64; following the opening comment delimiter.
Sentinels embed outline structure into external files.</p>
<p><strong>Do not alter sentinel lines</strong>. Doing so can corrupt the outline structure.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-71">Settings:</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Plugins and other parts of Leo can get options from &#64;settings trees,
outlines whose headline is &#64;settings. When opening a .leo file, Leo looks
for &#64;settings trees in the outline being opened and also in various
leoSettings.leo files. &#64;settings trees allow plugins to get options without
any further support from Leo’s core code. For a full discussion of &#64;settings
trees, see <a class="reference external" href="customizing.html">Customizing Leo</a>.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-72">Sibling</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>Nodes with the same parent. Siblings of the root node have the hidden root
node as their parent.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-73">Target language</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>The language used to syntax color text. This determines the default comment
delimiters used when writing external files.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-74">Tree</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>An outline. A node and its descendants.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-75">Underindent line</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A line of body text that is indented less then the starting line of the
class, method or function in which it appears. Leo outlines can not
represent such lines exactly: every line in an external file will have at
least the indentation of any unindented line of the corresponding node in
the outline.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p>uA</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>uA’s (User Attributes) are persistent Python dicts that allows scripts
and plugins to associate additional data with each node. See
<a class="reference external" href="customizing.html#adding-extensible-attributes-to-nodes-and-leo-files">extensible attributes</a>.</p>
</div></blockquote>
<p id="index-77">View node</p>
<blockquote>
<div><p>A node that represents a view of an outline. View nodes are typically
ordinary, non-cloned nodes that contain cloned descendant nodes. The cloned
descendant nodes comprise most of the data of the view. Other non-cloned
nodes may add additional information to the view.</p>
</div></blockquote>
</section>
</section>


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